" _They_ are called "superficial." It is a little
unjust, for they have been just as studious as the "learned men," but
they have spread themselves out too thin. They have not bought and kept
the books they have read, and they cannot remember the vital points.
Suppose you recollect that Lord Bacon has said something very wise about
riches. That is all you can call to mind. That carries no impression to
anybody. If you had the book in which you saw the speech, you could
repeat it accurately, and the probability is that the next time you
referred to it you could give
THE GIST OF THE WHOLE THOUGHT,
and, by the next attempt, the language itself. You could say to your
friend when you were talking about wealth, that you have admired that
speech of Bacon where he says that he cannot call riches better than the
"baggage" of virtue; that he thinks the Roman word "impedimenta" still
better; that, as baggage is to an army, so is riches to virtue; it
cannot be spared or left behind, but, in his quaint expression, "it
hindereth the march; yea, and the care of it sometimes loseth or
disturbeth the victory.
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